About twenty years ago, as part of one of my first jobs, I was expected to campaign against bursting fire crackers. The argument then, in 1998, was that fireworks made no sense – they polluted and involved child labour. Our focus was primarily on Diwali, something no one was offended by. The campaign had already begun before I joined, but it needed to be strengthened periodically. The Department of Environment of Delhi subsequently took over the campaign with great gusto.
At that point, I imagined, with the conversation around air pollution making news quite frequently, that 2017 would not be this way. I assumed that I would be able to breathe clean air in my own city.
Now, no longer struggling with a first job, no longer that naïve or so incredibly young, I stand shocked at this catastrophic failure of our many governments to ensure our safety.